Nizhónígo Nee Ado’ááł (Have a beautiful day)

Navajo Class at Larsen Elementary


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Our Navajo Language class is officially underway. It is offered every Tuesday at Larsen Elementary. We have a handful of high school students who have been making a great effort to come to class weekly, and have been diligent in their own learning process. This course is taught by Clayton Long, who is an Bilingual Director in San Juan School District. Clayton speaks the Navajo Language beautifully. The Navajo Language is such a complex, and dynamic language. These high school students who are currently taking this course are definitely using their higher order thinking skills to make connections between their primary spoken English language, and the Navajo Language. We are so proud of these high school students for their determination. Keep up the good work! 

 

Cherry Creek Elementary After School Homework Lab


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We are excited to announce our Cherry Creek After School Homework Lab has started! It is every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:00-5:00 at Cherry Creek Elementary in Springville. We have had a wonderful turn out as far, and would like any American Indian student to join us. This lab offers help with homework, reading, writing, and math. Along with that, tutors from UVU SCUP are on-site to help and assist student with their individual academic needs. 

Title VI Dancers invited to groundbreaking Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point


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On September 11, 2017, our Title VI dancers had the opporuintiy to perform at the groundbreaking for the Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point. Despite their young ages, these dancers did a wonderful performance. These young dancers danced the fancy shawl dance. This dance orginated among the northern tribes. Fancy shawl dancers are intented to resemble butterfiles. They are called "fancy shawl" dancers because the shawl tend to be colorful, bright, frigned, and the length of the shawl is similar to a butterflies wingspan. These gracious young women did a excellent job performing at this event. 

August Newsletter 2017

Please download our August Newsletter.

American Indian literature resources for libraries

I wanted to share with you some information about American Indian literature that I find to be an excellent resource for libraries, 
 
 
Debbie Reece created this website to share books and writings that are culturally accurate, I will share with you her thoughts about why AICL is an important website: 
"Given these studies, I believe the books Native students read in school play a significant role in how Native students fare.  Teachers and librarians have a role to play, too, in the success of Native students. For me--and I hope for you--that means selecting books that accurately portray Native people and our nations. I'm not after "perfect" Natives with no faults, but ones that portray us in all of our humanity, with the range of our emotions and actions. These books are important for non-Native students, too, because they deserve accurate books, too, no matter who the books are about. And, some of these non-Native students will grow up to be writers, or editors, or reviewers, or librarians, or teachers who write, read, and share children's and young adult literature."
 
So many books have been written by non-natives that were not accurate that I thought this would be helpful to you as well as Nebo School libraries. 
 
2013 Best Books for Elementary School:
 
 
Best Books for High School:
 
 
Here are more resources for teaching!
 
Utah Education Network:
 
Utah Division of Indian Affairs - FAQ page.
 
Utah Board of Education - Indian Education website link:
 
National Museum of American Indians - Thanksgiving:
 
Montana Indian Education for All:
 
I hope this is something that you find to be informative and helpful. Please call me if you ever want to collaborate with our program, we have a short video about our Camp Eagle Summer School that was recorded by Spanish Fork Channel 17 at this Nebo link about Camp Eagle Summer School: http://www.nebo.edu/  
 
Eileen Quintana,
Nebo Indian Education Program

Play and Book Signing


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Camp Eagle Summer School events open to PUBLIC! 
 
We are collaborating with Native American authors of the book "Edge Of Morning" Torrey House Press SLC. Regina Lopez Whiteskunk and Jackie Keeler will speak on June 23, 2017 at 5:00 - 6:00 pm and autograph books for those that purchase these books. Discounted rate for books is $15 - Come get your copy!
- Children's Play "Tricksters of the Animal World" will follow this event 6:00 - 7:30 pm at Larsen Elementary School.
 

Summer School


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Please see the Summer School Flyer for details, and use the Summer School Application to register.

Sadie Melton, MMHS Graduate

Sadie Melton is a graduating senior from Maple Mountain High School. She is Aleut/Caucasian and a treasure to each lineage. Her family and friends describe her as funny, kind to everyone, beautiful and easy going. She is also hardworking, dedicated and a great problem solver. If you are lucky to be her friend, you are a friend for life. Sadie loves to cook in her free time, especially bake, her family and neighbors are often the recipients of delectable goodies. When she is not baking, she loves to hang out with friends or read a good book.  Her favorite movies are the Harry Potter movies. A TV show she can’t turn down is and I Love Lucy rerun. “I’m your Vitameatavegamin Girl. Are you tired, run down, listless?”

Foods that Sadie enjoys are Lasagna, orange chicken, and anything with sea salt caramel. Her music of choice is anything with a good beat that you can dance to or something that is emotionally charge for the moments when you need a good cry. When asked about her favorite color she said, “Black forever and always but also really light pinks or colors that are so dark they look like they are black.”

In high school she ran cross country. Her favorite classes were Prostart and English. A memorable, funny, quirky moment she will always remember is when a popular kid apologized for standing too close to her. We hope he knew he was standing next to greatness. Sadie loved watching the soccer games at MMHS. She also thought that the school had some pretty awesome dances that she enjoyed. Her future plans are to attend SUU and begin working on her teaching degree. She would like to become a foods teacher. One item on her bucket list is to buy out a whole store’s supply of Nutella. We are contemplating starting a “Go Fund Me,” account for this, hoping she will share. - We end with her favorite quote, “Save the Bees.” – Vegans.

Sadie, you are on your way to great things. We think you are awesome and are ready for anything life throws at you. Congratulations! 

"Makin Beats," Nicholas Nez!

We found Nick last Thursday finishing up a “beat,” in his audio essentials class at the Advanced Learning Center. It is his favorite class there at the school besides lunch.  He attended ALC every other day this school year. He said it would great to become a famous music producer. That is on his bucket list, along with buying Eminem’s $20,000 shoes. Nick likes Mo Tab, Lil Yachy, Lil Uzi, Childish Gambino, Fergie, Celine Dion and Mariah Cary.

Nicholas Nez is Navajo and a graduating senior from Payson High School. He definitely is his own person with an off the wall or should I say off the charts sense of humor. In his free time, he enjoys feeding his cat Moosa and making rap beats. He also like to watch movies such as Heavyweights and Grumpy Cat - “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.” He will also make time to watch 19 Kids and Counting and Flava of Love. He says his favorite sports are Mexican Hat dancing, dancing and wrestling.  He wrestled for the Payson High Lions. An experience he will always remember is the time he was warming up for wrestling by playing handball and broke his nose, no wrestling that day. He will always remember his wrestling experiences. Another thing he will remember is waking up at 3 in the afternoon and getting up to go to school.

He can eat guacamole and chips any day along with a plate of tamales. He also likes Vegan? And, microwavable food and going to Mexican restaurants. His future plans include going on a mission, then to UVU. He thinks he may want to become a gastroenterologist or go into business and marketing.  One of his favorite quotes is, “A life time of glory is worth a moment of pain.” –From the movie Unbroken.

Nick is a fun loving senior that will undoubtable have a successful, fun life. Good luck Nick!

Speaking Mailyn Lee!

Mailyn Lee, Navajo/Filipino spoke at Landmark High School’s graduation ceremony on Monday along with two other students. She spoke of how she was able to change her story by taking baby steps. And those steps led to her graduating. It could have been much different for her. She did a wonderful job and represented well.

She loves being around people and is self-confident. She has a smile that can lift anyone’s spirits.  Her family says that she has a big heart and loves to make people smile. Her friends say she is outgoing and loves to explore. She loves playing soccer, surfing, hiking and being outdoors. She has already began working on an item on her bucket list, she wants to explore all of Utah, hike, go caving and see the land.

Mailyn likes listening to music you can sing to.  She particularly likes girlie songs and rap.  She enjoys watching football and baseball.  Her colors of choice are neutrals with blue. Her favorite foods are Mexican and Vietnamese.  She especially likes chicken tacos, chimichangas and pho soup.  She plans on continuing her studies at MATC and eventually would like to go to Weber State.  One memorable moment at Landmark was when they all went out and had a kickball tournament. Everyone was so carefree and they just had fun and played and played she said.

One way she copes with hard times is to sit down and write about it in story form.  She finds that many of her answers or solutions come when she does this. We end with the quote Mailyn ended her speech with at her graduation, “Little by little, one travels far.” J.R.R. Tolkien. We know that Mailyn will go far by taking one step at a time. GO MAILYN!!

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